Action for keyboard stringed musical instruments.



v P. BISSING. ACTION: FOB KEYBOARD STBINGBD MUSICAL ILS TBUMENTS.

' APPLICATION FILED K OY. 29,1901. 899,096.

Patented Sept 22, 190&

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PETROWITSCH BISSIXG, OF TOPEKA, KANSAS.

ACTION FOR KEYBOARD STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 22, 1908.

Application filed November 29, 1907. Serial No. 404,242.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PETROWI'JSCII Bis- SING, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Topeka, in the county of Shawnee and State of Kansas, have invented new and useful Im )I'OVCIHCHtS in Actions for Keyboard Stringed Musical Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to action mechanism of key-board stringed musical instruments.

The object is to provide such a mechanism which is adapted for the production both of single tones and of tremolo tones, and whereby a single operation of the key may produce a tone of either character, at the will of the operator.

The invention consists of the parts, improvements, and combinations herein pointed out and claimed.

In the drawings accompanying and forn1- ing part of this specification, and in the description thereof, I'have shown my invention in its preferred form, and have shown the best mode of applying the principles thereof; but it is to be understood that the invention itself is not confined to these drawings and the description of these drawings, that it may be applied to other uses, that parts and combinations as separately claimed may be used either with or without other devices of similar general nature, and that I contemplate changes in form, proportions, materials, and arrangement, the transposition of parts, and the substitution of equivalent membcrs, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spiritof the invention.

Figure 1 is a side elevation view of an action mechanism constructed in accordance with the principles of my invention, the parts being in their normal position, that is, the position of rest; certain parts of the frame being shown in cross section. Fig. 2 is a similar view of the same mechanism showing the positions of the parts when the key is depressed, dotted outlines indicating vibrations of the string and the hammer-hcad and hammer-shank. Fig. 3 is a detachedview of the hammer-head and hammer-shank.

Similar reference characters indicate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views.

4 and 5 are the base and upright, respectively, of a suitable frame; 6 is a key-lever balance-rail; and 9 is a damperdiange rail.

Sis a rail for supporting a llange to which is pivoted one part of a damper-operating and hammer-throwing element, hereinafter to be described; the said rail also serving with capstan screw 17 as a hammer-butt stop.

10 is a flange suitably secured to the frame, A

as to the base 4, and to which is pivoted a hammer butt 11, on which is mounted a hammer. The hammer is of peculiar and particular construction. It consists of a head 15 and a flexible-spring shank 14 suitably mounted on the hamn1erbutt 11, as by means of a stud 13. The shank 14 must be of suitable resilience to cause the hammerhead to vibrate, as wil' hereinafter be e. plaincd, and I prefer for this purpose to use a Hat steel spring, the broad surface facing the string 31 so that the vibration will al ways be in the proper plane to direct the hammer-head against the string.

18 and 19 are two members of a damperoperating and hammer-throwing element hereinbcfore referred to, one member being pivoted to the hammer-butt and the other to the flange 20. They are pivoted together to form a lcnuckle-joint. YIhcn the parts are at rest, the member 18 rests against a cushion .22 on the rail 8, and the middle pivot does not come (uite in alinemcnt with the end pivots. .Then the hammer-mitt is raised, the upper end of the lower member 18 is forced to the left- (as viewed in the drawings), on account of the are described by the upper member. A pad or cushion 21 on the lower member is located immedia! ely in the rear of the hammer-dread. These parts are so adjusted, as indicated in the drawings, that when the key is depressed and the hammer butt thereby raised, the upper end of the bar or link 18 travels more rapidly and farther toward the hammerhead (to the left as viewed in the drawings), than the lower end, by reason of the are described by the upper link 19, and yet the upper ernl does not travel far enough to the left to interfere with the vibrations of the hammer-head against the string. it'hen the hammer-butt is raised quickly by a stroke on the key-lever, the movement of the member 13 will throw the hammer-head toward the string 31. This member or hammer-throwing element 18 is necessary because if the hammer has a resilient'shank the head will lag or act slowly when the key-lever is given a sharp stroke downward; while the hamtiter-throwing element causes the hammer-head to be thrown quickly toward the string, thus giving a quick response to the touch on the key, even with the resilient shank. The same member 18 with its cushion 21 also serves as acheck to stop the vibraiions of the hammer as soon as the key is released.

Extending from the upper member 19 is a spoon 23 for directlyoperating the damper elementf The damper emcnt consists of an L-shapcd lever comprising a member 28 pivoted to the damper-flange 24 and provided with a weight 29 normally holding the damper against the string. and a rod 26 secured to the member '28 and having a head 25 ad justably fastened thereto by means of a setsc1'ew '27. hen the parts are at rest, the spoon or rod, 23- is wholly disengaged from t to damper-lever, permitting the damper torest against the string. On lifting the hammer-butt, as by a stroke on the key-lever, rod 23 lifts member 2? and withdraws the damper from the string (see Fig. 2). On the release of the key-lever, the parts are restored to their normal position. as shown in Fig. 1.

16 is a capstan-screw et in the keylever 7 under the hammer-butt; and 17 is a capstanscrew set in the rail S in the path of the hammer-bult; by means of these capstan screws, the travel of the key-lever and of the hammer-butt may be adjusted.

.The string 31 is properly tensioned over parts of the frame, as is usual in stringed musical instruments. The string thus tensioned has two distinct functions; first as a sound- )roducing element as in other stringed musicv instruments; ziltl second as a spring as part of the action mechanism to cooperate with the resilient hammeeshank to cause the hammer-head to vibrate against the string to produce a prolonged tremolo tone, as will now be explained. I so adjust the arts that when the key is depressed, the 1ammerbutt is checked in such position that the hammeehead if not vibrating (as shown in full lines in Fig. 2;: will be close to but not in contact with the string: if the hammerhead is caused to vibrafe through the vibra tion of the resilient shank (as will occur when the key is struck a blow and held depressed), it, the hammer-head, will strike the string with each vibration toward it. The rapidity'of the vibrations of the hammerhead depcnds upon the weight of the hammer-head and the length and stillness of the hammer-shank. firh a hammer-shank made of a thin flat steel spring of considerable flexibility and about two and one-quarter inches in length, and other parts in approximately the proportions shown in the drawings, the best resu ts are secured by allowing a space of approximately one-sixteenth of an inch between the string and the hammerhead when in position of restwith the key depressed (Fig. 2). Vs'izh a mechanism of this kind, a blow on tae key the key being then held depressed will produce a tremolo tone of perfect rhytlnn, and of sullicient duration for practical use in a muslcal instrument, there being from twenty to sixty strokes of the hannner-heml against the string. depending upon the force of the blow on the key. resembles the tone produced from a mandolin, but it is mechanically perfect, not; depending on the player fol-its rhythm.

In practice, contem 'ilate the combination of the entire set or series of strings, each with its own key, hammer, damper, and connecting mechanism, the key-board being ar ranged as the key-board of a piano.

A single stroke on the key, the key being immediately released, produces a single tone from the string, as the tone from the piano or harp string. Astrokc on the key, the keyboing held depressed, produces the tremolo tone as above described, and obviously this tremolo tone ceases the instant the key is released, or when the force of the st-rokeis spent in vibration.

Another feature of my action mechanism is its quick responsiveness owing to the fact that the rear end of the key-lcver is always in connection with the hammer-butt (which is not the case in piano actions). The stroke of the hammer can he produced from any position of the key-lever.

'hat I claim is:

t. The combination of a frame; a tensioned string; a hammer having a resilient element; a device to operate the hammer; a check to limit the movement/oi the hammer toward the string; said string, hannncr, and check being adjusted so as to cause the tensioned string and said resilient element to cooperate in maintaining a prolonged vibration of the hammer-head against the string.

2. The combination of a frame; a tensioned string; a hammer having a resilient shank; a device to operate thc hammer; a check to limit the movementof the hammer toward the string; said string, hammer, and check being adjusted so as to cause the ten sionedstring and theresilient shank to cooperate in maintaining a prolonged vibration of the hammer against the string.

3. The combination of a frame; a tensioned string; a hammer having a spring shank; a damper; a device to operate the hammer and the damper; and a check to limit the movement of the hammer toward the string; said string, hammer, and check being adjusted so as to cause the tcnsioned string and the spring shank to cooperate in maintaining a prolonged vibration of theham mer against the string.

4. The combination of a frame; a tensioned string; a hammer having a spring shank; a damper; a lever to operate the hammer and the damper; and a check to limit the movement of the hammer and adjusted so as to naturally check the hammer The tremolo tone thus produced damper; a knuckle-jointed element cooperwith the head close to but not in contact with the string and so as to permit the head by reason of the momentum acquired in its ac tion toward the string and the ilexure of the spring shank to strike the string, in which construction the tensione l string and the spring shank are adapted to cooperate in maintaining a proloi-igeL vibration of the hammer-head against the string.

5. The combination of a frame; a tensioncd string; a hammer having a resilient shank; a device to operate the hammer; a check to limit the movement of the hammer toward the string; said string, hammer, and check being arranged so as to cause the tensioncd string and the resilientshank to cooperate in maintaining a prolonged vibration of the hammer against the string; and a hanrmer-thrmving clement cooperating with said hammer to initially throw the hammerhead toward the string.

6. The combination of a frame; a soundproducingelement; a hammerhaving a resilient shank; a device to operate the hammer; and a hammer-throwing element cooperating with the hammcr-operating device to initially throw the l1 .un1ner-l1ead toward the soundproducing element.

7. The combination of a frame; a tensioned string; a hammer having a spring shank; a keydever to operate the hammer;

a check to limit the movement of the hammer toward the string; said string, hammer, and check being arranged so as to cause the tensioned string and the spring shank to cooperate in maintaining a prolonged vibration of the hammer against the string; a damper,

operated by the key-lever; and a hammerthrowing clementcooperating \n'th the hammer to initially throw the hammer-head toward the string and to stop the vibrations of the hammer on its return to normal position.

8. The combination of a frame; a tensioned string; a hammer having a spring shank; a check to limit the movementof the hammer toward the string; said string, hammer, and check being arranged so as to permit the string and the spring shank to cooperate in maintaining a prolonged vibration of the hammer against the string; a

ating with the hammer to throw the hammer-head initially toward the string, and to to limit the movement of the hammer-head toward the strin said string, hammer, and

check being so ad usted as to naturally check the hammer with its head close to but not in contact with the string and so as to permit the head by reason of the momentum acquired in its movement toward the string and the llexure of the spring shank to strike the string, in which construction the tensioned string and the sprin shank cooperate in maintaining a prolonged vibration of the hammer-head against the string; a damper pivoted to the frame; a knuckl'eqointed hammer-throwing and damper-operating element. to stop the vibrations of the hammerhead upon return of the parts to normal pomechanism; substantially as set forth.

, 10. The combination of a frame; a ten sioned string; a hammer having a spring shank; a damper; a lever to operate the hammer and the damper; and a check to limit the movement of the hammer toward the string and adjusted so as to naturally check the hammer \n'th the head close to but not in contact with the strin and so as to permit the head by reason of tlie'momentum acquired in its action toward the string and the fleXure of the spring shank to strike the string, in which construction the tensioned string and the spring shank cooperate to maintain a prolonged vibration of the hammer-head against the string; whereby a single stroke on the lever the lever being imme diately released produces a single tone from the string, and a stroke 011 the lever the lever being held depressed produces a tremolo tone, substantial y as set fortln In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of snbscribing witnesses.

PETROWITSCH BISSING. 

